It wasn’t the normal prematch protocol. Before the official 60-minute clock started for warmups on Saturday night, Hawaii and British Columbia were out on the Stan Sheriff Center court together and — to borrow a soccer term for a non-counting international match — putting “friendly” into the friendly, volleying against and setting each other.
It remained cordial, intense but cordial, as the Rainbow Warriors swept the Thunderbirds for a second consecutive night. Hawaii’s serve was hot all night — with eight aces — and the block showed up late — a 6-0 edge in Set 3 — in a 25-21, 25-18, 25-17 victory.
Senior hitter Stijn van Tilburg, finishing with a team-high nine kills, sent the crowd of 1,788 home after 94 minutes with his walk-off ace. Senior hitter Brett Rosenmeier made the most of playing in only Set 3 with a match-high four aces to go along with three block assists, and junior opposite Rado Parapunov added eight kills and three aces.
For the second straight night, Rosenmeier came off the bench in the third and “it’s the last year for me, so I have to take advantage every time I’m on the court,” he said. “I try to stay warm and be ready, because you never know when you’re going to get called to go in.
“I think we definitely have some stuff we need to work on, which should happen. Overall it was two good games against a really good team. We’ll get back in the gym and get some work done.”
Hawaii, taking today off, has a quick turnaround. The Warriors will be back at practice Monday, prepping for the Hawaiian Airlines Classic, which runs Thursday through Saturday. In Thursday’s 4 p.m. opener, USC takes on Concordia-Irvine, followed by Hawaii against New Jersey Institute of Technology at 7 p.m.
UBC, the defending Canadian collegiate champion, proved a tougher challenge than it did on Friday. Sophomore hitter Coltyn Liu, who had four kills in the opener, finished with 14 Saturday, including putting down his first five swings in Set 1.
The Thunderbirds, outblocked 4-3 on the first night, had four in Set 1 and a 10-5.5 edge by intermission.
“UBC played a lot better,” Warriors coach Charlie Wade said. “We had to play well to win this.
“Joe (senior setter Worsley) has a lot of weapons. He didn’t use Rado as much as he could have Friday, went to him a little more tonight. And it was good to see our block get effective late. The serving continues to be good — eight aces, eight errors.”
It was Rosenmeier’s serving that helped the Warriors take charge of a tight Set 3. His two consecutive aces put Hawaii up 10-5, and he added two more during his next service turn for an 20-14 margin.
Rosenmeier had been replaced by junior Colton Cowell in the starting lineup this week based on Cowell’s performance during fall camp, where “he was the best receiver, best server, best attacker,” Wade said. “This was an opportunity to give (Cowell) some time. We know what Brett can do. Every time he’s been in a reserve role, he’s always stayed positive. They’re not really competing against each other. They’re here to make each other better.”
It wasn’t the prettiest of volleyball Saturday. Set 2 was a battle of errors, and the Warriors committed fewer. Both teams hit negative .077 and Hawaii still won by seven despite being outblocked 6-3.5.
Set 3 was a statistical anomaly, with Hawaii taking a 12-9 lead without having a kill. The Warriors relied on four blocks, two aces and six T-Birds errors.
Of concern for next week might be Hawaii’s middle attack. Middles Patrick Gasman and Dalton Solbrig combined for three kills on eight swings. The two each were in on five blocks.
